Learning was Stretching the Treble

[Alan Barnard]

Please don't stretch the piano. Unless you intentionally want it a little
edgy and "brilliant"—which is legitimate but not for new tuners and not for
most customers—just listen to the piano and tune it clean. The piano will
"stretch" itself properly. Coming out of the temperament, most pianos sound
good with clean (no beat) double octaves, as David said. These are the
so-called "4:1 octaves" but it's actually a 4:1 double octave, or fifteenth.

Here's a trick for learning/testing/tuning the 4:1. Let's say you are
tuning C6. You want the fundamental tone of this note to be absolutely at
the same pitch (frequency) as the fourth partial of C4 but you can't play
C4 while tuning C6, so you have to tuneC6 to C5, right? Well, when you have
the C5-C6 octave very clean, hold down C4 (silently, don't play it, just
lift the damper) and play and hold C6 firmly. This will excite the
appropriate partial of C4. If it's absolutely beatless, you are right on
with your C6 at 4:1. 

You can't do this all the way to the top because you can't hear it (at
least, I can't) but it will get you well into octaves 5 and 6. Then, keep
the pattern going use the 3rd-10th-17th tests to be sure that you are not
tuning octaves too narrow and listen carefully for clean single octaves to
be sure you aren't tuning them too wide.

Here is something kind of fun and instructive, I'll use our C6 example
above: Press C4 down silently and place a mute between the C4 key and
either B3 or C#4—not the strings; the keys themselves—this let's you take
your hand off the key while the damper is still lifted. Now you can tune C6
without even touching C4 OR C5! Just listen to and eliminate the 4:1 beat
between C4 and C6. You'll not want to tune this way all your days because
it takes a little extra time and won't work on anything except pianos that
are at least somewhat decent and in quiet environments. But, GOOD NEWS,
these sorts of tricks will help you learn to HEAR the desired octave width
while just playing the single octave (C5-C6 in this case) with one hand and
tuning the top note with the other—check for pure fifths as you go. That
way, you can quickly tune an octave, then run quick checks with
double-octaves, 12ths, 10ths (lower tenor), and 17ths (as high as you can
hear them). 

After awhile, you won't have to check everything, every which way, with
every possible check, every time. You'll learn the SOUND of CORRECT and you
will have more and more confidence (and speed) in what you are doing.
However, you should never abandon all checks because pianos differ so
widely in inharmonicity, etc., and there are always things that can trip
you up, like false beats that hit at quirky spots and notes that move after
you tune them (oops, it happens to everyone).

And remember, every time you tune one note to another, the second note will
only be right IF the first note was right; so when tuning up or down by
octaves, you can get all messed up. If C4 is a little off in the
temperament, then you will also have C1, C2, C3, C5, C6, C7, and C8
wrong—even if you tuned them "perfectly" to each other. This would also
mess up your P5th checks for all the F's going down and all the G's going
up. Well, you get the idea: Every now and then, make sure everything is
working, especially with running 3rds (10ths, 17ths), octaves, and double
octaves.

Excuse me, but having laid out this stuff to an audience mostly more
experienced than I, I am going to go hunker in my bunker ...

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri


> [Original Message]
> From: <mps@usol.com>
> To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
> Date: 07/19/2005 1:21:18 PM
> Subject: Stretching the Treble
>
> I have been "tuning" for several months now. I know that this isn't 
> very long but there is no sense in continually turning out tunings that 
> just don't sound right in the treble.
> I feel I have a good enough ear on this matter.
> I tune aurally and would like to know what partial(s) to listen for to 
> make this stretch sound more accurate.
> I have no trouble in the bass, only the treble.
>
> Thank you for your time
>
> Mark
> Montbriand
>
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